Leonore
Leonore is the capital city of Esmere, the western human kingdom. It is a huge place where elves, dwarfs and other races have found also found a home, comfortable with the forward-thinking, accepting society. It is also home to Esmere's queen, Arietta. Story Significance Act 1 The party arrived at Leonore after rescuing Cassia's supplies in Sherringate and sought out Mistress Sophina at the Arcane Brotherhood tower. She seemed a little aloof and wasn't really interested in helping the party unless they did something for her. She is however, frustrated that due to the lack of security on the roads, her ordered supplies are not always reaching the Arcane Brotherhood. She tells the party that the Arcane Brotherhood will help them if they can assist the City Watch as quickly as possible so that the kingdom's security can return to normal, and so she can resume her usual research. She directed the party to the City Watch HQ. Lieutenant Zoiya was on duty at the City Watch when the party arrived at the HQ and she accepted their help. She informed them that the assassin who attempted to kill the queen was not ordinary and had showed use of magic. The Watch had a lead that the mage-assassin had help - he purchased some supplies from the black market. They recently raided the black market but a few of the merchants escaped and were currently hiding in the sewers or in the city. The Watch had struggled to investigate further and thoroughly search the entire sewer network whilst keeping criminal activities down. The party was the extra manpower they needed to search the south-western sewers and look for clues, particularly for the merchant who made contact with the assassin. There was also a small reward out per black marketeer they brought in, dead or alive. The party's first day in the sewers saw them encountering dire rats, giant cockroaches and indeed, black marketeers. The only information they gathered however, was the name of the merchant who made contact with the mage-assassin. This merchant was known amongst the underground as Renwick. The party went into the sewers again, finding more criminals who then surrendered. They divulged the location of where Renwick was hiding - at The Copper Cauldron. After bringing in their round-up to the City Watch the party decided to go after Renwick. Lieutenant Zoiya asked them to investigate immediately, but couldn't help because it was based on a criminal's word, and the Watch don't have the manpower for a raid. She can signed a document for the party to present to the Temple of Iomadae for the priests to heal them. The party then raided the Copper Cauldron basement and found the remaining black marketeers. Upon their defeat Renwick emerged from hiding and surrendered. He revealed to the party that the mage-assassin was called Jarrow, a researcher from the School of Valdis, a secluded magical research facility south-west of Leonore. Reporting of their success to the City Watch, Lieutenant Zoiya introduced the party to Captain Krang. He asked them to take out Jarrow and to bring him in dead or alive, as they've shown they're capable adventurers. If the party could go after the mage-assassin he could return the militiamen to their normal locations of duty and get the kingdom's security back on track. This in turn would mean that Mistress Sophina could then help Haven find her brother. The party accepted the mission and left for the School. After dealing with Jarrow and taking out the slavers north of Langmoor the party still had not found Leon, and so they returned to Leonore. They were requested to meet with the City Watch again where they were introduced to Chief Investigator Hahn. There had been a series of murders over the past few weeks, and Hahn had been unable to discern the cause. He suspected a supernatural creature of some sort which he was not specialised to deal with. The most recent victim was an elven noble, Lord Volyn and the two other victims were human. Blin recognised the second human body as Willem, a dockworker he had attempted to make friends with in a pub in the weeks before. The party spoke to several people including the dockworker dwarves, prostitutes and Bryony, the local butcher whose business was booming in the last month. Their investigation led them to Quelzac, a gnome who was standing in for Drufo, the local alchemist. He had been buying lots of meat from the butcher and had also been seen out at night. Confronting Quelzac and defeating him the party discovered that he was in fact a Dandasuka (one of the Rakshasa), an outsider shapeshiter who had killed Drufo and taken his home. The mystery was solved, and the party then learnt from that Jarrow had mysteriously managed to commit suicide whilst in custody. However the Watch's investigation at the School of Valdis found that Jarrow had been corresponding with Lord Inoq of Corrowton. Hahn tasked the party to investigate as it seemed that a plot was brewing and that the Queen could still be in danger. Discovering information in Corrowton that another terrorist base in the capital city was planning to attack the Queen again, led by Hahn, the party returned to the capital city. Ambushing them at their hideout in Lady Yulee's manor, the party rounded up more anti-royalists, with backup from the City Watch. Before fighting, Hahn claimed his actions were only to protect Esmere on information provided by Lady Yulee's visions. He however taunts the party, revealing that he subtly organised for Old Man Wickers to buy Haven's brother and take him overseas to stall the party. He had also hoped Quelzac would have killed the party in their city murders investigation, and that he tried to again stall the party by having Blin arrested in Corrowton. He and Lady Yulee then fought the party with a deadly combination of the spell 'Enlarge Person' enabling Hahn to repeatedly trip and disarm the party with 10ft reach. After Hahn's defeat, the party were called to the Arcane Brotherhood, who had arranged for a special divination ritual to find Haven's brother. Whilst in his trance-like state Archmage Manoj revealed that Leon was at present, safe and somewhere on the Islands of Melueth. The ritual however was then interrupted by an accident in the tower. Explosions were heard and people were evacuating the building. Amongst the panic, Mistress Sophina and the party learnt that a naive apprentice caused a rift to open to another plane, and demons started to invade, attacking the brotherhood. The apprentice and master conjurer dead, the party held off the onslought whlie Mistress Sophina attempted to find a way to close the black gate portal, but she wasn't knowledgeable enough to know what to do. The party were becoming exhausted and demons kept coming through. She revealed to the party that there was one certain way to close the rift - to merge it a soul of pure heart. With sad farewells, Eristede heroically walked into the black gate, destroying the portal but his body and soul with it, lost forever. Story Significance Act 2 The tragic fate of Eristede made Blin decide that the adventuring life was more dangerous than he had anticipated. With his name cleared in Corrowton, he left a note for Haven and Tyrion and departed for home. Archmage Manoj, the diviner, informs Haven that Leon is located on the Islands of Melueth, a group of islands inbetween the Eastern and Western kingdoms. It is a most uncivilised place - a port for pirates, smugglers and thugs as well as the 'honest' trader. She would need a ship to travel there, and transport became an issue as she and Tyrion had not the money needed to hire a boat and crew for such a journey. Haven and Tyrion were soon after summoned by Queen Arietta and high-ranking members of parliament. They are honoured that she arranged a beautiful funereal ceremony for Eristede, and provides funding for a life-like statue of him to be erected in Gedbury, Haven and Eristede's hometown. Time, however, was of the essence, and there was sadly not much available for grieving. Trusting the two remaining adventurers, the Queen informed the party that the anti-royalist terrorists, including Jarrow had been researching into the Orbs of Dragonkind. The Queen and her council feared that one of the Orbs may still exist, although everyone believes they were destroyed centuries ago. According to the investigation Jarrow seemed to be attempting to track down one of the Orbs. There were unfortunately no clues as to which Orb it may be, but the party was asked to discreetly investigate. Only the high ranks of the city watch and the church knew about this investigation. Haven and Tyrion then set off to find the last Orb of Dragonkind. They were advised to do some background research first, and so their first task was to venture to the archives specialised in ancient artefacts in Sherringate. As they were about to leave the palace, Mayor Malken suddenly burst through the doors, announcing that Sherringate had just been overrun by dark monsters. The party of two realised that they were going to need help to continue the Queen's mission and to look for Haven's brother. But, with these tasks in hand their new companions would need to be powerful and willing for adventure. Before they could begin blindly searching for help a rather odd human man approached them in the marketplace, introducing himself as Alberich, a cleric of Desna, good-aligned goddess of dreams, travellers, luck and stars. He claimed he had been directed to them, interpreting his recent visions in the night. Although Haven and Tyrion were initially apprehensive, they accepted his offer of help. A few hours later the party were called to the City Watch HQ by a guard, telling them that Captain Krang may have found another person to join their team. At the HQ Captain Krang took them to the cells, where he introduced the party to a rather abrasive, temperamental male dwarf, whose name was Rikard Tully. It was explained that he was in custody as he had initiated a drunken fight after his forge was burned down. Despite the dwarf's constant arguing, Captain Krang offered the dwarf his freedom but bound to the party to assist them until they returned to Leonore. Once the party's mission was complete, he would be free to go. The party learned that Tully used to adventure with a team, but they disbanded years ago and went their separate ways. His experience would mean that he was more prepared for the party's mission than most people in the city. Begrudgingly, Tully accepted the terms as the alternative was incarceration. After clearing the Sherringate town of undead, the party returned to Leonore. Although the archives had been burnt, the party showed Captain Krang and Lieutenant Zoiya the invitation to a special black market auction, dropped by an evil cleric of Lamashtu. This news was not surprising to the authorities however, as the Queen's agents had also managed to find similar invitations. It was a possibility that the item could be an Orb, but the only way to determine this was to venture to the auction itself, due to take place on the Islands of Melueth. The Queen had reserved a boat (the Excelsior) and a crew for the party and it awaited their embarkment at the fishing town of Crimshaw. The party stayed in town to resupply for the long journey ahead, and after fending off assassins in the night they hastily made their way to Crimshaw. Known Locations *City Watch HQ *Arcane Brotherhood *The Copper Cauldron - lower-class inn *The Flying Fox - middle-class inn *The Curious Cat - middle-class inn *The Golden Cockerel - upper-class inn *Church of Iomadae *Church of Sarenrae *Elven (western) Embassy Local NPC's City Watch *Captain Krang - half-orc adult *Lieutenant Zoiya - half-elf adult *Chief Investigator Hahn - human adult (deceased) Arcane Brotherhood *Mistress Sophina - elf adult *Archmage Manoj - human middle-aged Innkeepers *Bernard - human adult (The Copper Cauldron) *Grannock - dwarf adult (The Curious Cat) *Frida - half-elf adult (The Flying Fox) *Charlton - human adult (The Golden Cockerel) Church of Iomadae *High Priest Mallik - human middle-aged *Bishop Gregory - human adult *Brother Selwyn - elf adult Church of Sarenrae *High Priestess Freya - human middle-aged *Bishop Olias - dwarf adult *Sister Pria - human adult Dockworker Dwarves *Sömnig, Griniga, Niesen, Kaino Prostitutes (human) *Peaches, Saffron Other *Bryony - human adult butcher *Lord Volyn - elf adult (deceased) *Willem - human adult dockworker (deceased) *Benjy - human adult drunkard (deceased) *Quelzac Humdinger Luthos Boghorn - dandasuka (deceased) *Lady Yulee - elf adult (deceased) Category:World Category:Esmere